How to Take Better Christmas Photos

How to Take Better Christmas Photos

Merry Christmas! 3 easy tips to improve your Christmas photos (even if all you have is your cell phone)

Every year I am up early preparing for the early morning gift giving. I want to be ready to capture the many wonderful memories that would soon unfold. So since it’s just a few short days from Christmas and I just wanted to send you happy greetings and a few easy tips to improve your Christmas morning photos! Because who doesn’t want to take better Christmas photos?

1. Turn on the Lights! –

It may seem bright to your eyes with all the lights on the tree, but to the camera it is actually rather dark still. So go around the room and turn on all the lights you are able.

2. Go PRO! –

Here is where you’re going to start to feel like a pro! Just be sure to practice this beforehand so as to not delay the gift opening. 🙂 Most cameras, including smart phone cameras today allow you to go into manual mode. This means that you take control of the dumb camera on your smart phone (I know you’ve seen the very dark images that sometimes come out of a cell phone camera). This is where you can tell your camera that it needs to work a little differently for you. There will be a setting called ISO. This is the cameras sensitivity to light. Go ahead and change that number to one of the higher numbers (my cell camera goes to 2700). You will see how it brightens up your screen and thus the photos that you’ll be taking. If your screen is still too dark, look for the setting that says shutter speed (my cell camera has an “S” with the symbol of a camera shutter). Go ahead and reduce this time. You can go as low as 1/30 for still subjects. Still too dark? – You can also make use of the flash in manual mode. Look for the lightning bolt icon.

3. Focus on the faces –

When you’re all set to take those photos, be sure to tap the focus point on the subject’s face(s). Seems simple but if you let the camera choose, it will often focus on the wall behind the person (which I’m guessing isn’t your desired memory to capture on Christmas!). There that’s it! Your Christmas morning photos should turn out merry and bright!. Happy memory making!